The present invention relates to full-depth cases for transporting and storing beverage bottles. It further is concerned with snap-in dividers for full-depth cases for bottles or the like.
In the past it has been the practice in the packaging industry to individually design cartons or boxes and the dividers for them for a particular use. This resulted in a variety of cartons or boxes of differing sizes and dimensions being produced. While this has the advantage of using a specific design for a particular use and thus avoids the problems of makeshift cartons or boxes, these boxes are expensive since they require separate designs for each use or container. Also, if various types and sizes of containers are to be shipped in the same storage chambers of a transportation vehicle, the cartons or boxes may not have uniform exterior dimensions, thereby wasting valuable storage space when stacked.
In particular, it is desirable to alternatively handle 1.0 liter, 1.5 liter and 2.0 liter PET bottles, depending upon the every changing market demands. In the past, as market conditions changed and different sizes of bottles needed to be handled, it was necessary to purchase a whole new "float" or supply of cases since each case was designed for only one size of bottle. These market changes can be gradual or sudden. The old cases then would have to be stored or thrown away, both being expensive alternatives. The former alternative uses valuable storage space and the latter produces unnecessary waste material.
Accordingly, a new bottle handling system is needed such that as market conditions change and a different type of material or size of bottle needs to be handled that it can be done efficiently and economically. In particular, it is desirable to have an improved system which can effectively handle, store and transport today's 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 liter plastic returnable beverage bottles in a commercially acceptable manner, which is compatible (that is, stackable and cross-stackable) with today's standard 309 mm by 412 mm full-depth cases, which is usable with palletizing and depalletizing machinery which hooks onto the center of the long wall of the case, which compactly cross-stacks on today's pallets without any overhang from the pallet sides, which allows chemicals and the like to be washed off the bottoms of the bottles while in the case, and whose case components cannot be easily disassembled or removed by unauthorized persons.